The Jozen One

I had been considering refinishing my piano for years. What kept stopping me was the sanding and stripping part, not that I'm not willing to do the work, I just didn't want to disturb the integrity of the piano or mess with the tonal quality of the instrument...I AM a musician after all and I care!  That having been established, I didn't want to paint it either, because it seemed so wrong!  I finally caved into my desire to have more color and art in my living room, and I painted it.      I used a "cover stain" primer to coat the finish, love it because I didn't have to sand or strip! Then 2 coats of teal and blue to shock! Faux patina with metal coffee colored antiquing glaze, then satin polyurethane. I LOVE it. I would do it again any day, the antiquing was super fun,  I'm definitely doing a dresser with this color and glaze too.

Recently my husband and I had to drive across the country, because we are dumb and we bought a house 3,000 miles away. Ok, maybe we're not dumb...we bought it to live in, then couldn't sell it when we moved. There is a really long story behind why this house was in such horrid disrepair, and instead of blogging all about it today, I'd rather skip the tale of woe and just show you what we did. Maybe I'll "tale of woe" you at a later time!  This is how the house looked when I lived there.  Old construction, but fun. I had chalkboard cupboard doors. :)   This is how I left it to my renters in 2006. This is also how I left it to my second renters in 2010.  This is what it looked like after the renters burned down the kitchen and our friend tore down all of the cabinets and cleaned out the debris and garbage left behind .   This is the result of 14 incredibly exhausting days of work on the whole house. The kitchen looks great! W...

Almost 3 years ago I found this living room furniture set at a thrift store for $50. I waited until they marked it down to $25 and I grabbed it! I've wanted to refinish them for a long time! The pieces are particle board mostly, so stripping and refinishing have never been an option for me. I year or so ago I painted the two end tables with a flat oatmeal color..I didn't like it, but I didn't change it, I just used them in my bedroom for nightstands. The coffee table had long been abandoned to my kids' game room in the garage. But a bit of inspiration from my ever evolving French accent living room got me thinking about decoupage!  Here's what I ended up doing...  I draped my table for the gluey mess of yuck. I know that many people swear by Modge Podge, I have not tried it yet, but since I was looking for a tarnished old world look, I decided to do old fashioned glue decoupage and finish it with Polyurethane, which I love. (standard school glue, diluted wi...

One of my favorite meals is a cheese flambe that my mother found on the Frugal Gourmet back in the 80's. It's a fried Kasseri cheese with brandy poured on top and lit on fire, extinguished with lemon juice and eaten with bread. Deeeelicious. I'm always looking for melty cheese recipes to enjoy. Recently, I found a restaurant with my husband called El Sacromonte, their menu is wonderful! We loved their version of Caprese. They lay cucumbers down on a platter, thickly sliced, marinated, semi hard cheese on top and bake it til it's just soft. It's served with basil, mozzarella and fresh bread, ridiculously good! Tonight, we tried our own cheese mess...and we were very pleased with the results. I encourage you to try it as well. Trader Joe's carries a cheese called Basque Shepherd's Cheese, it's 100% sheep milk, so it's not cheap, but it's lovely!  I preset my oven to 350. I wanted to make this dish similar to the one at our restaurant,...

Pinterest junkie that I am, I found this super cute idea a month or so ago.  I got to enjoy the find this past weekend! http://tinkerlab.com/2012/01/chalkboard-painted-canvas/ Again...I failed to take a before picture for a tutorial, which I am terribly sorry for,  because I LOVE the way it turned out for my intentions. I had been looking for a piece of art to put over my bed, I was totally loving all of the "love phrase" art that I was finding online. Wall quotes are some of my favorites, but I didn't want to limit what I had to say! The chalk board idea was a cute one, so I improvised a bit and went hunting for a framed canvas. This past weekend I found a perfectly sized pastel work, with a mat and frame. It was a maroon/woodgrain and the picture was a drawing of a house. I took apart the entire piece, removed the plexi-glass, mat and artwork. If I had to do it again, I would have gone out and purchased a foam board, but I decided to just chalkboard ...

No tutorial, sorry. I didn't really think it out or plan it, I just dug around in my scraps and made a taco...; ) I made the "tortilla" separately, with very little stuffing, the "taco meat" is the real pillow, but I added the stuffed tomatoes and lettuce into the top by sewing them into slices from the inside. I added the wide orange ribbon and white felt after for added texture and I sort of tie quilted the whole thing together with embroidery thread.  As you can see, my daughter thinks it's delicious!

My kids love the Nightmare Before Christmas, my daughter wanted some new jean shorts. I think the shorts are long gone now, but this has become a jeans patch for her leather jacket...because it's cool like that.  Fabric paint is one my favorite things. : )

Every year when school starts I have an anxiety attack about the cost of equipping my kids with "cool enough" things to start the new year. One thing I've been doing for years is to shop thrift stores in the heat of the summer when no one is buying fall clothing, and stock up on jeans, warm tops and sweaters. It helps...a lot. A couple of years ago I started this new practice: I hunt down old laptop bags, messenger bags, or backpacks and design whatever my child wants. A comparable bag would have cost me $40 at Hot Topic...this cost me under $10 for the bag and paint. She absolutely loved it. I made this for my son, he's a huge Full Metal Alchemist fan. He wanted something simple, but unmistakable, so he designed the bag himself, I just painted it. : )

Yeah, I started by making a snack…so I wouldn’t eat the bacon and shrimp along the way . The night before: I readied a whole picnic basket with candles, plates, forks, salad dressing, glasses and sparkling cider. Step 1: Bake the bacon, partially cook it, 350 oven for 15 minutes max, it ensures that the bacon is cooked ALL the way through. The initial recipe leaves the middle undercooked. Step 2: Muffin Tins, I was instructed to drill holes into my mini tin…I couldn’t do it. It was NOT cheap and I like my muffin tin, so I improvised and used aluminum foil to create a smaller tin and drip area. It TOTALLY worked. Step 3: Because I was also making chocolate covered strawberries for my bouquet, I wanted them to be pretty…you know without the flat chocolate side from drying, so I filled the mini tin with rice, and nestled the strawberries into them, to pose them. I drizzled the chocolate on top and they came out so nice! Step 4: I had decided that bacon roses alone...